Simon thought Mahmood was talking in a foreign language when he uses Singlish to tell his sister the story of the “Little Led Liding Hoot”
Phone-in Lesson 03
Download Phone-in Lessons 2002 – Lesson 03 (ZIP, 2.9MB)
| Simon meets Nora and Mahmood for the first time… | |
| Nora: | Hello, you must be Simon. I’m Nora. |
| Simon: | Hi, Nora. Very pleased to meet you. |
| Nora: | This my son, Mahmood, and my new baby, Siti. I needed to talk with Mei Ling so we just stopped in on our way to the shops. I’ll be starting work again soon. |
| Simon: | Your baby is beautiful. Congratulations. |
| Nora: | Thank you. I’ll just go and tell Mei Ling you’re here. Mahmood, look after the baby, ah. |
| Mahmood: | What? |
| Nora: | Just tell her a story. She seems to like that. I’ll be back in a minute. |
| Simon: | Do you know any stories? |
| Mahmood: | Well, I suppose I could tell her Little Red Riding Hood. |
| Simon: | My sister used to love that one, too. Off you go. |
| Mahmood: |
OK. Ahem! Once upon a time, got one little girl little led liding hoot. She want to go to Grandma’s house. Morning alleady she go out one. She got take one basket….She happy happy walk only until she come to Grandma’s house. (Mahmood comes to the end of his story). Wah! Little Led Liding Hoot vely scared one, she scream vely loud but late alleady ah, the animal alleady eat her. …She very happy one, and after they get married. THE END. |
| Simon: | Wow! I’ve never heard that story in a foreign language before. |
| Mahmood: | What? Foreign language? |
| Simon: | Yes. Was that Chinese or Malay? |
| Nora: | Mei Ling will be out in a minute, Simon. How’s the baby? |
| Simon: | Fine. Mahmood told her the story of Little Red Riding Hood in Malay. |
| Mahmood: | No. I tell in English! |
| Simon: | English! Are you sure? |
| Narrator: | Well, understandably Simon was totally baffled by that story. Mahmood told it in Singlish, It contains numerous grammatical mistakes, such as: |
| Replay… | |
| Mahmood: | She very happy one, and after they get married. THE END. |
| Narrator: | As well as pronunciation errors like… |
| Replay… | |
| Mahmood: | Wah! Little Red Riding Hoot vely scared one, she scream vely loud but late alleady ah, the animal alleady eat her. |
| Narrator: | Wrong use of vocabulary can also cause problems. |
| Replay… | |
| Mahmood: | She happy happy walk until she come to Grandma’s house. |
| Narrator: | Put all these together and even the best known story seems like a foreign language. Let’s go back to the scene and see what Nora thinks about all of this. |
| Nora: |
Have you been speaking Singlish again! I told you to try not to do that. If that’s all the baby hears, then that’s what she’ll grow up talking! It’s back to the British Council with you for more English lessons! |
| Narrator: | A very good point, Nora, and adults and children alike can phone in every day to find out how to correct the kinds of mistakes in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary that Mahmood was making. See you tomorrow! |
Quiz Point
Mahmood should have said “I told the story in English”.
Written by Niamh O’ Leary, Laraine Bamrah, Harry Allen, Clare Williams, Shirley Lim and Alaisdair Raynham for The British Council, in association with the Speak Good English Movement.
© Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and British Council Singapore 2002
